cassava, CIP, IITA, CIAT, CIRAD, Bioversity, bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, yam, gene discovery,grm13

1. CGIAR Research Program on Roots,
Tubers and Bananas:
Overview
GCP-GRM
27 September, 2013

2. A collaboration of:
+ a wide spectrum research-for-development
stakeholders & partners

3. Banana
Plantain
Cassava Potato Sweetpotato Yam Other R&T
Our crops
200 million farmers depend on RTB crops
Buffering role in food systems

4. Andean Aroids

5. Cross center collaboration
PRIMARY CROP EXPERTISE OTHER ROOTS AND
TUBERS
CENTER BANANA CASSAVA POTATO SWEETPOTATO YAM AROIDS ANDEAN
Bioversity
CIAT
CIP
CIRAD
IITA

6. • Increased scale
• Critical mass of researchers
• Greater capacity
• Exploit synergies: genuine “win-wins” eg similarities in
seed systems and post harvest management
To do together what we cannot do separately
Program “value added”

7. RTBs share
• Genetic complexity
• Lengthy growing season
• Vegetative propagation, similar seed
systems
• Low multiplication ratio
• Disease build up
• Unrealized high yield potential
• Under-investment
• Inadequate research and poor
dissemination of technological
innovations
Why Roots, Tubers and Bananas?

8. Why Roots, Tubers and Bananas?
 Bulkiness:
 implications for handling, transport, storage, crop
hygiene: farm gate processing, proximity to
industries
 Perishability
implications for marketing, utilization, crop
management
 Insufficient and poor quality planting material
 Limited use of improved post harvest handling
technologies

9. Genetic Improvement Challenges
1 Genetics poorly understood
2 Long Breeding cycle* except Potato
3 Flowering/incompatibility
4 High level of heterozygosity
5 Limited Genomic resources
6 Critical mass of researchers
7 High GXE
8 Low Genetic Diversity
9 High post-harvest losses
10 Low multiplacation ratio
11 No private sector interest

10. Program structure: Integrates 7 Themes
Theme 1 Conserving and accessing genetic resources
Theme 2 Accelerating the development and selection of
varieties with higher, more stable yield and added value
Theme 3 Managing priority pests and diseases
Theme 4 Making available low-cost, high-quality planting
material for farmers
Theme 5 Developing tools for more productive, ecologically robust
cropping systems
Theme 6 Promoting postharvest technologies, value chains, and
market opportunities
Theme 7 Enhancing impact through partnerships

11. Theme 1 and 2: Germplasm enhancement
Theme 1 Conserving and accessing genetic resources
Theme 2 Accelerating the development and selection of varieties
with higher, more stable yield and added value
Research Outcomes:
• Increased Access to, and enhanced use of RTB genetic
resources
• Increased NARS capacity in breeding, pest and disease
mangt, quality seed systems.
• Accelerated development of RTB varieties with pro-poor
traits by NARs

12. Novel Component by Theme

13. Theme 1 Impact Pathway:
product lines, products,
outcomes, and impacts

14. Theme 2 Impact Pathway:
product lines, products,
outcomes, and impacts

15. PL 1: Breeding tools, strategies, and approaches
• Screening tools for nutritional quality: NIRS
• Improved flowering of parental lines: phytohormones,
flowering genes
• Heterosis breeding: heterotic patterns
• Inbreeding for RTB improvement: e.g. unravel
recessive alleles; reduce genetic load
• Accelerated selection schemes and MAS

16. Biotechnology Tools
• Marker-assisted selection
• Association mapping
• Genomic Selection
• Genetic modification
• Mutation induction enhanced breeding
• Unraveling host-pathogen interaction

17. PL 2: Trait capture and gene discovery
Phenotyping—a crucial and challenging issue
• Rapid, accurate, large‐scale phenotyping
• Plant architecture – non destructive MRI (CIP-Embrapa)
• Drought and heat tolerance
• “virtual phenotyping platform.”
• Gene Discovery: TILLLing ecoTILLing
• Pre-breeding: AB-QTL (introgression); ploidy induction; DH

18. Complementary projects: capture “value added”
Theme Theme name Title Type
1&2 Genetic resources Enhancing Global RTB Productivity through more targeted
use of global genetic diversity;
Full proposal
2 Development and selection of
varieties
Multi-centre planning on Banana/Plantain Improvement Planning grant
3 Managing priority pests and diseases Developing tools for describing, quantifying and managing
diseases causing degeneration of planting material in RTB
Full proposal
3 Managing priority pests and diseases Towards the development of comprehensive strategy for
combating Bemisia tabaci – a continuing menace to R&T
crops
Planning grant
3 Managing priority pests and diseases Building a collaborative, public-private R4D alliance to
address BBTV in Sub-Saharan Africa;
Planning grant
3 Managing priority pests and diseases Management of critical pests and diseases of RTBs through
enhanced risk assessment and surveillance
Planning grant
4 Seed systems Developing a proposal for modelling RTB-seed systems:
Towards decision support systems for improving seed related
investments
Planning grant
5 Robust cropping systems Identifying and quantifying yield gaps in RTB crops to devise
technologies for increased RTB production
Planning grant
7 Impact through partnerships Reaching end user through capacity strengthening and
learning: A needs assessment
Planning grant
7 Impact through partnerships From rhetoric to reality on gender: Implementing the RTB
gender strategy
Planning grant
7 Impact through partnerships Partnerships and knowledge sharing for innovation in roots,
tubers and banana research for development
Planning grant

19. RTB cross-crop projects: 2012-13
Examples
Omics platform
Multi-centre planning on Banana/Plantain Improvement
Tools for quantifying and managing diseases causing degeneration of planting
material
Strategy for combating Bemisia tabaci
Alliance to address banana bunchy top virus in Sub-Saharan Africa;
Enhanced risk assessment and surveillance of critical pests and diseases
Modelling RTB-seed systems for improving seed related investments
Identifying and quantifying yield gaps for increased production
Capacity strengthening and learning: A needs assessment
Implementing the RTB gender strategy
Partnerships and knowledge sharing for innovation

20. • Next generation breeding for genetic gain
• Game changing traits/solutions (GMO)
• Global network of RTB in-situ conservation
monitoring sites
Discovery flagships in RTB

21. Next generation breeding for genetic gain
RTB
transformational
breeding
platform utilizing
genomics,
metabolomics,
and phenomics
Integrated RTB
breeding data
management
systems
Genetic diversity
access,
assessment, and
incorporation
into value-added
germplasm pools
Capacity
strengthening
Accelerated and
decentralized
participatory
breeding and
selection
methods
Linkage to high-
ratio
multiplication
clean seed
systems
Gender-
responsive
baseline
assessment of
farmer needs
Theory of change
• Breeding platform
accelerates genetic gain
• Gender disaggregated
user feedback improves
adoptability
• Indicators & incentives
improve performance
RTB transformational breeding
platform utilizing genomics,
metabolomics, and phenomics

22. Next gen breeding: metrics (examples)
Target
environment
Target Trait Current level of
trait
Target level 2023
Cassava
Asia Yield, starch content Medium-high (25%) High (32%)
West and
Central Africa
High pro-vitamin A (>15
ug/g B-carotenes)
high DM, poundable
with low CNP
1/3 target level of
beta-carotenoids.
Dry matter content
less than 30%
Target > 2% increase
in carotenoids
content and dry
matter content per
year
Potato
Subtropical
Lowlands
Earliness
Virus resistance
Heat tolerance
User preference
Average maturity
period >85 days and
susceptible to
viruses
Combined resistance
PVY PVX and PLRV
70-day maturity in
40% popn.
Sweet
Potato
Tropical & Sub-
tropical
lowlands
Yield & earliness 8t /ha 120 days 9.6 t/ha 100 days
SPVD resistance < 1% in breeding
pop.
10% in breeding pop.
Yams
West Africa High yield and DM
anthracnose +
nematode resistance
Average yield below
10 t/ha.
Yield above 30 t/ha. +
resistance to
anthracnose and
viruses

23. Acknowledgment
Graham Thiele, RTB Director
All CRP-RTB Team Members

24. Thank You